They routinely are the best athletes in their buildings. Still, it’s a tough transition even for the most physically-gifted youngsters who are going from football fields to basketball courts.

Breathing patterns vary and conditioning the legs and lungs involves different muscles. In addition, the breaks in action are unique to each sport.

That makes these few weeks between sports a challenge for players, coaches and teams who often count on the same youngsters for success in football and boys basketball.

“It’s definitely a huge difference,” Paint Valley junior Anthony McFadden said. “In basketball it’s all about the legs and being able to stay in a defensive stance.

“Football is more about short bursts of energy.”

McFadden, who threw for more than 1,700 yards this past season, was an all-district quarterback. He now will be counted on as his team’s point guard.

“We try to convey to our kids that weight lifting is good conditioning across the board,” Paint Valley football coach Pete Hollon said.

Marion Pleasant’s Ryan Maniaci said he worked on shooting and ball-handling drills on Sunday nights while leading his team deep into the Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoffs. But conditioning is the biggest adjustment when changing sports.

“In football you go like for 20 yards maybe. In basketball you go and go and go until the whistle blows.”

Mansfield Madison sophomore Tyrell Ajian hopes to follow an impressive fall as a receiver for a playoff team with a second strong winter as a starter on the Rams’ basketball squad. For him, the toughest part about switching sports is offense.

“Football is a real physical sport,” he said. “When it comes to basketball, your legs start out a little tired and it can definitely affect your scoring.”

Madison basketball coach Tim Mergel said the effect on each team differs based on the number of players making the transition and their skill sets.

“The year we won a playoff game, I would say it took until Game 5 or 6 before we had our rotation right,” he said. “You hope you have enough depth on the bench that it doesn’t make that big a difference. But defensively, it can dictate if you pick them up at 94 feet or 47 feet.

“I always tell the kids, ‘Give me 100 percent as long as you can and then we’ll get you a break when you need it.’ ”

Newark City Schools Superintendent Doug Ute played football through the ninth grade at Clear Fork, but hung up his cleats in favor of sneakers to become one of the best basketball players in school history. He went on to coach a district championship basketball team at Buckeye Central in the small-school division.

Today, he routinely sees youngsters who make the transition from football to basketball and effects at all levels.

“We encourage the kids to play as many sports as they can or want to,” Ute said. “The beauty of it is your building that competitive nature in them; that toughness that helps the kids later in life.”

Ute chuckled at the recollection of his days between seasons when his team would have been better suited in helmets than shorts.

“(The transition is) an even bigger issue if your team goes deep into the playoffs. Mentally, their focus is on knocking people over,” he said. “When I was coaching at Buckeye Central, one year we went to the state finals (in football) and we set up a midweek scrimmage with Delphos St. John’s. They went deep into the playoffs, too.

“After about 25 minutes I looked at (the Blue Jays’ coach) and the kids were just beating the heck out of each other. We figured that was probably about enough of that.”

So when will basketball coaches and fans see their top players in optimum shape?

“A lot of that depends on the kids and their skill sets and the positions they play in both sports,” said Doug Rickert, a former basketball coach at Mansfield Madison and now the school’s athletic director. “The jumping, the cutting, the stopping, it’s just so much different in each sport.

“A lot of it is about their legs. Until they recover the conditioning in their legs, they’re going to struggle. If you have no legs, you have no shot.”